Background:

Ruins of
a Roman/Byzantine town, located above the north side of sea of
Galilee, and is referred in the new testament as one of the cities
condemned by Jesus. The buildings are made of black basalt
stones, and a grand 4th C AD synagogue was restored in the central
quarter.

Location:

The site
is located 4.5KM north to the sea of Galilee, 300M above the level
of the lake. It can be approached either from the west (2KM from
Vered-Hagalil junction) or the east (the road that climbs up from
the Sea of Galilee to Almagor, 3Km away from the
Moshav).

History:

Roman/Byzantine

The city was
established in the 1st C AD. The remains that are seen today belong to a later
period, the period of the Mishna and Talmud (3rd/4th C AD), when the city was
expanded.

The Jewish
Synagogue was built in the Byzantine period, in the 3rd/4th C AD, according to
a hoard of coins found under the synagogue. The synagogue is a typical rectangular
23M long, 17M wide, double row structure, north-south orientation. Its style is similar to the
Capernaum and Hammat-Gader synagogues.

Later periods

The site was
destroyed at the middle of the 4th C, as described by Eusebius of Caesarea
(published in his work - Onomasticon - at about 370AD), which relates the
destruction of the city to the prophecy of Jesus. This was also established by
the excavations. The destruction may have been caused by an earthquake (363
AD).

The
site was
restored at the end of the 4th C, and continued until the 8th C. It
expanded during the early Arabic period (7-8th C AD). After a gap of several
hundred years, was revived in the 13th C. Near the entrance there is a tomb
from the Mamluk period - the grave of Sheik Ramadan.

A small population was settled here
from the 15th C until the last century.
Bedouins from Syria that were settled in the ruins by the British after WW1
until 1948 when the site was abandoned.

Modern times

New sites
were established in the vicinity of Korazim: In 1946 Kibbutz Amiad; In 1961
Moshav Almagor and the farm Vered-Hagalil; In 1983: Chorazin, which
shares the same name as the ancient site.

The site was
excavated in 1875, 1905, 1926, 1962, 1965, 1980, 1983, and was restored and
opened to the public as a national park.

Photos:

(a) Vicinity:

The ruins of the
town cover about 100 Dunam (10 Hectares), and is located on a ridge
that is divided by the road to Moshav Almagor. The city has five
quarters (north, west, south, east and central), where the central
quarter includes the public houses and the synagogue. The town
was not protected by a wall.

A quad copter view, taken above the
east side of the site, is seen here.

Click on the photos to view in higher
resolution...

This area is very dry, and water
supply was essential for sustaining the life in this town. A spring
is located on the north-east side, which was the source of the
city's water, in addition to the cisterns under the houses.

The city is
located above the sea of Galilee, and an ancient road connected it
to Capernaum (Kefar Nahum) below. It
was an agriculture village, and famous for its wheat. An oil press
was found on the western side of the city near the ancient road on
the edge of the city.

(b) Inside Korazim:

Korazim is
built from black basalt stones, the local stones in this volcanic
area. Most of the stones are unhewn (rough and unfinished).

The ritual bath,
an underground Mikveh, is located in the central quarter, north to
the synagogue. It is based on a set of long stones that are placed
over a cavity, as seen in the center (a similar structure can be
seen near the ancient synagogue in Khirbet
Kanaf). A cistern is located behind the bath (covered by an iron
cover).

The structure
next to the ritual bath, which includes arches.

In the following
photo - some of the houses in the central quarter. In front of them
- the main street of the city (North-South, which is right and
left). There are narrow lanes between the houses, and most of the
houses are adjacent to one another. On the left background is the
synagogue.

(c) The Synagogue:

The 4th C Ad
synagogue was a classic Galilee type rectangular structure, made
from black basalt stones, and built on a raised platform. It is one
of the earlier Galilee synagogues.

This is the view
of the south entrance and the outer court. It was accessed from the
main street by a staircase, and there were 3 doors (the restored
structure shows only the side door on the left and the central door
on the right). A part of the decorated top of the door is seen on
the floor.

The entrance to
the Synagogue was decorated, and the reconstructed gable is located
on the floor of the outer court and shown below.

A close up on
the south-west side of the synagogue. The doors face the south - the
direction of Jerusalem. The structure was damaged in the 4th C by an
earthquake, and later restored and used until the 8th C AD.

The inner north
side of the synagogue shows 5 of the columns out of the 12, which
were arranged as a U shape. They supported the ceiling and roof,
with windows on the sides. The floor was paved without mosaics,
unlike other Galilee Synagogues from later periods.

A stone bench
known, as the "Cathedra of Moses" type, is seen in the following
photo (the original stone is displayed in the Jerusalem Museum). Its
inscriptions, in 4 Hebrew lines, dedicate the bench to the memory of
Yuden Bar Ishmael. The Hebrew words can be seen clearly
starting with "remembered for good...", right to left, on the
top-right corner.

Many artifacts
were found in the synagogue, some shown in these photos. There are
stones with lions, birds, grape vines, head of medusa, menorah,
temple, and more.

New Testament References:

There are two identical references to Kurazim (Chorazin)
in the new testament, associated with the cities that did not accept Jesus and
were condemned by him.

Matthew 11 21-22:

"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein
most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty
works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes".

Luke 10 10-13:

"But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they
receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and
say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do
wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you, that it
shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty
works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you,
they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and
ashes".

Other References:

Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius:

This 7th C Ad
work holds a tradition that Antichrist would be born at Chorazin,
educated at Bethsaida and rule at Capernaum - hence the curse of
Jesus upon these cities as in the above texts.

Etymology (behind the name):

Korazim - source of name may be the root "Karoz" - which means
in Hebrew "announcer".

Chorazin - the Aramic name (as in the new testament)

Khirbet Karaze - the name of the Arabic place which preserved
the ancient name. On this site there were Bedouins that were settled
in the ruins by the British after WW1.

Vered-Hagalil- Hebrew: Rose of the Galilee (Vered is rose;
Hagalil is "the Galilee").